Micah 7

Israel’s Misery

¹What misery is mine!

I am like one who gathers summer fruit

at the gleaning of the vineyard;

there is no cluster of grapes to eat,

none of the early figs that I crave.

²The faithful have been swept from the land;

not one upright person remains.

Everyone lies in wait to shed blood;

they hunt each other with nets.

³Both hands are skilled in doing evil;

the ruler demands gifts,

the judge accepts bribes,

the powerful dictate what they desire—

they all conspire together.

⁴The best of them is like a brier,

the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.

The day God visits you has come,

the day your watchmen sound the alarm.

Now is the time of your confusion.

⁵Do not trust a neighbor;

put no confidence in a friend.

Even with the woman who lies in your embrace

guard the words of your lips.

⁶For a son dishonors his father,

a daughter rises up against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—

a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

⁷But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord,

I wait for God my Savior;

my God will hear me.

Israel Will Rise

⁸Do not gloat over me, my enemy!

Though I have fallen, I will rise.

Though I sit in darkness,

the Lord will be my light.

⁹Because I have sinned against him,

I will bear the Lord’s wrath,

until he pleads my case

and upholds my cause.

He will bring me out into the light;

I will see his righteousness.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see it

and will be covered with shame,

she who said to me,

“Where is the Lord your God?”

My eyes will see her downfall;

even now she will be trampled underfoot

like mire in the streets.

¹¹The day for building your walls will come,

the day for extending your boundaries.

¹²In that day people will come to you

from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

even from Egypt to the Euphrates

and from sea to sea

and from mountain to mountain.

¹³The earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants,

as the result of their deeds.

Prayer and Praise

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

which lives by itself in a forest,

in fertile pasturelands.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead

as in days long ago.

¹⁵“As in the days when you came out of Egypt,

I will show them my wonders.”

¹⁶Nations will see and be ashamed,

deprived of all their power.

They will put their hands over their mouths

and their ears will become deaf.

¹⁷They will lick dust like a snake,

like creatures that crawl on the ground.

They will come trembling out of their dens;

they will turn in fear to the Lord our God

and will be afraid of you.

¹⁸Who is a God like you,

who pardons sin and forgives the transgression

of the remnant of his inheritance?

You do not stay angry forever

but delight to show mercy.

¹⁹You will again have compassion on us;

you will tread our sins underfoot

and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will be faithful to Jacob,

and show love to Abraham,

as you pledged on oath to our ancestors

in days long ago.